(AFP File Photo)
The Alexandria prosecution renewed the detention of a group of 21 female protesters on Tuesday.
State-run news agency MENA reported that the prosecution’s decision renews their detention for 15 days.
On Thursday 31 October, a group of 21 female protesters and one man were arrested by security forces in Alexandria but the man was released after he was determined to be a bystander uninvolved with any of the protests.
Mahmoud Gaber, a lawyer who is part of the protesters’ defence team, said on Friday that the protesters were “attacked by police forces and beaten.”
He said the 21 who were arrested include seven under the age of 17, who are currently being held in a juvenile detention centre. “This is a violation of the law which prohibits the detention of children under any circumstance,” Gaber said.
He added that “fabricated charges were brought against them,” like blocking roads and destroying public and private property, “without specifying which property was destroyed, how it was destroyed and what tools were used to destroy it.” They did not posses any tools when they were arrested other than banners rejecting the “coup” and banners with the Rabaa sign on them, he said.
Gaber added that detainees are being held in inhumane conditions.
The 21 detainees belong to a group called the “7am Movement”, which organises peaceful protests before the beginning of the school day against the 3 July military-backed ousting of former President Morsi. The group, which started in Alexandria, has spread to Greater Cairo and launched a campaign called “Our girls are a red line.”
Protesters took to the streets in various parts of the country on Friday in response to calls by the Anti Coup Alliance to a protest dubbed, “Egyptian women are a red line.” The alliance, which is made up of several parties and unions that support Morsi, had said on Thursday that women have been “deliberately targeted” with “unprecedented vindictive violence.”
